Board members said wrong-way accidents, though rare, are unusually lethal because of the high speeds involved and because 80% are head-on collisions, and thus they deserve attention.

"Thirty-two years ago this month I had to tell my wife that her cousin was killed" in a wrong-way crash, board member Robert Sumwalt said. "You think how could something like this happen? How could someone end in the wrong lane? But it does happen."